TargetTalk

Hi all,

So this is something I've experimented, been struggling with, and thought I'd turn to the interwebs' wisdom for.

So, I've tried hard to focus on the front sight in my shooting, but I've found that my groups get tighter and my scores go higher when I focus a little past the front sight. It means that I AM aware of where the target is relative to my sight picture. I know that sounds heretical relative to the conventional wisdom so I was just curious:

What could be explaining the fact that my groups improve when I do look (partially at least) at the target? Is there something I can try to focus on when just focusing on the front sight to tighten the groups?

Thanks in advance!

You should place your focus on the front sight (iron sights), but you should place your attention on the motion. It is not difficult to place your focus of your eye on the front sight, (a physical aspect of changing the shape of your iris to keep the front sight in your focal plane) and also keep your attention on the motion (a mental aspect). Research by Loze, Collins, and Holmes, Journal of Sports Sciences, Sept 2001, describes this in detail. BOTTOMLINE, for pistol shooters, when EEG occipital alpha power increased during pre-shot activity, the shooter had their best shots and the EEG alpha decreased with the worst shots. This suggests that visual attention of the sights and targets decreased in the pre-shot period of the best shots but increased in the worst shots.
So, intently staring at the front sight, might not be the best solution.

This is brilliant. I've been looking for a scientific basis. But, if I need to be aware of the motion and try to stabilize the motion of the sights, then implicitly don't I also need to be aware of the target? I.e. it can't be completely out of focus like a lot of people have it when they use glasses?

Why should it matter if the target is a fuzzy blob? The targets are always a circle of a given size at a given distance, so as long as the fuzzy blob is in the same relationship to the the front sight every time, the hole will appear in the same place every time.

And it doesn't really pay to work too hard at getting the visual relationship between the target and the sights "just so"; see this thread:

/viewtopic.php?p=166576#166576

There is a very good geometric reason for this, but as they say in the math books, I will leave that as an exercise for the reader. Especially since I've got to go - I've got time booked on the range this evening.


Roger